Taking Off Masks
by girltype
Summary: CloTi Response to FFHet's Fic challenge.  When Yuffie wants a party Yuffie gets one...Tifa can make the best of it though.


AN: this was written for a challenge on FFhet on livejournal that NO ONE entered. Which is sad 'cause it's a fun community and I wish it could be more active. And, come on, the tag line "Because Sometimes the Boys like Girls Instead" is cute. This is a revised version cause I did a bad thing and left typing it up 'til the last second. So for all intents and purposes it's a first draft, and my first drafts are so very painfully bad it's not funny. I have a friend who edits my stuff and so she sees every stage of it and she still always marvels at how my last draft could have come from such crap. I changed the name of the story too.

Anyways I'll stop babbling at you. Though I would like to say, sorry that it's been so long since I've written anything. I put an explanation in my profile for any who is interested.

Taking Off Masks

Standing in front of the mirror in her bedroom Tifa lifted a red leather mask to cover her face. The mask was shaped to look like a dragon's with flares that gracefully curled against her forehead and cheeks. She had pulled her hair up so she could tie the two thongs on the sides of the mask together without catching any hair in the knot, which she did anyway.

So after spending a little while trying to carefully pick her hair out of the knot she finally let the rest of it down. It fell around her with a soft whisper and she finally took the time to look at the effect.

The leather was a dark dusky burgundy, it made the skin that showed on her cheeks and chin starkly pale and her lips a darker red. She'd put blush around her eyes so the pale skin wouldn't look strange under the mask but the effect was somewhat unsettling, her eyes didn't look separate from the mask. She found herself staring as a soft-eyed monster stared back.

She snorted before turning around. The entire concept of a costume party struck her as ridiculous; everyone was painfully obviously themselves. Barret would be the only gigantic black man there and Cloud's hair was going to be a dead give away, if he even bothered to dress up. She wasn't even going to start on Vincent.

If he came as a vampire she was going to strangle him.

Even as she thought the costume party was ridiculous there was another part of her that loved it. Masks and costumes. They were second nature. Every one of them had become a master of disguise just for survival's sake and now they could dress up just for fun.

And Tifa had always liked the idea of being someone else. She could pretend she was a girl who had never lost her mother or her father. She could be a girl who had never had to learn how to break a man's arm in three places in a single move, or she could be a girl who didn't watch a man out of the corner of her eye for some sign that he cared.

Of course, this costume might be a bit too much someone else for her liking.

"Tifa? You comin' out sometime tonight?" Yuffie's voice seeped through the door before her head peeked in.

"No. I don't think I will." Tifa crossed her arms over her chest and frowned.

Yuffie came all the way in the room, bending strangely to get her wings through the door. Along with the wings she was wearing a black satin midriff with a black gauzy skirt ripped up into strips and what looked like her usual knee high boots just in black. Over one eye was a fake tattoo that looked like a butterflies wings, they curved over her cheek and up over her forehead to just kiss her hairline.

"What are you?" Tifa asked, blinking, momentarily distracted from her own costume troubles.

"A fairy looking to start some trouble." She chirped back, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Like it?"

"It looks great. However, in contrast, I cannot go out there in this." Tifa could almost detect a faint hint of whining in her own voice as she spread her arms out to show what she was wearing. The mask was matched by a burgundy leather corset that her already abundant cleavage swelled above alarmingly. She was also wearing a floor length skirt dyed to match; it made a whispering noise against the floor every time she moved. Completing the look were wings tied to the back of her corset.

"Sure you can. You're the hottest dragon the world has ever seen."

"It had to have cost a fortune." Yuffie had brought it to her when she'd announced that they would be having a costume party at Seventh Heaven. Tifa hadn't had the heart to tell her 'no', after all Yuffie was like a younger sister to her; doted on, and loved, and horribly annoying when denied.

"It did, so you should come downstairs in it and let everyone see how awesome I am at picking out costumes."

"I don't _want_ to go down there."

"Everyone's asking about you. You should see Elena. She's a cat, how boring is that?" Yuffie waved her hands in the air to express just _how_ boring that was.

"I saw her before I came up to change. She has a whip," Tifa told her dryly.

"So she's a dominatrix kitty, but still!" Yuffie was staring at her, obviously waiting.

"I'm not leaving this room."

"I'll bring the party up here." And she would too. Tifa knew that stance, the one where Yuffie put one hand on a jutting hip, leg cocked, and shoulders squared. It was the stance she took right before she attempted to shove a shuriken up someone's backside. Yuffie had every intention of having fun tonight and everyone was going to have fun with her, if she had to break bones and china to do it.

Tifa sighed, the fight going out of her. "Why are we having this party? I'm giving away an awful lot of free booze here."

"We need this, ya know?" Yuffie caught Tifa's hand and started dragging her towards the door. "I miss you guys. We never get to see each other unless the world is ending. And short of paying off some guy to dress like Sephiroth and talk about reunion everywhere this is my only choice."

"Fine." Tifa finally says hearing the words beneath the words. They are both lonely in a world without danger around every corner, a warm body sleeping next to them. When had they ever been alone when they were traveling across the planet, scared and lost and _together_?

Tifa squared her shoulders, she wasn't going to run back in her room and hide. She wasn't. Yuffie was right. She missed everyone too, and they needed this. These people were the closest thing to a family she had and she ached for a family. She almost had it too, in her day-to-day life, with the kids always underfoot and Cloud having finally come to live with them.

They were down the stairs and Yuffie burst through the swinging doors but Tifa help back taking in great gulps of breath and chanting to herself. "Don't run away. Don't run away."

A meteor hurtling to the earth and fighting Sephiroth had both been less scary than going through a couple of swinging doors that she walked through every day. She'd asked Cloud if he loved her once with less hyperventilating than this, of course she had thought he was asleep at the time.

She could hear Yuffie yelling over the noise of the bar. "If she's gone back up to her room to hide again I'm gonna steal all her underwear and decorate Seventh Heaven with it. I swear to Leviathan that I will!"

Tifa slapped a hand to the doors and went through glowering. "Fine, I'm here." There was a wolf whistle that announced that at least someone had noticed. Reno mostly likely she thought.

She was sure her face matched her outfit so she kept it down but she couldn't help the quick scan across the room for a certain blonde head but she didn't see him so she made her way to the bar where Nanaki was perched on a stool with a Jester's collar around his neck he was talking to Cid who was manning the bar wearing a tight-fitting jump suit — thing with two yellow stripes and a brown one separating them. He also had what looked like blue fingerless gloves that buckled around his upper arms.

"Nice look," Tifa says with a smile as she carefully reached for a drink.

"I could say the same for you, kid." He grinned around his cigar and pushed the glass closer to her. "Try not to fall out of it."

"I'm trying." She took a sip and glanced at Nanaki and Cid over the rim of her glass. "Seen Cloud anywhere?"

"I was just gonna ask you that," Cid glowered.

"He disappeared up stairs shortly after you left earlier," Nanaki supplied a bit more helpfully.

Tifa sighed and smiled bravely at her friends, though with Nanaki lapping at a saucer of beer and Cid looking vaguely like a very strange clown she couldn't find herself feeling too unhappy. Her smile shifted into something real as she stopped for a moment to take in the sheer amount of presence around her.

Marlene ran up in a brown robe and swinging a lantern back and forth wildly. "Tifa, Denzel keeps trying to kill me!" Denzel wasn't far behind looking like a miniature Cloud with a giant cardboard sword.

"Denzel, don't kill Marlene." It had taken her two days to find a cloak that Marlene thought looked just right.

"She's a tonberry!"

"He's got a point." Tifa told her around laughter. She steadied the swinging lantern with one hand.

"Hey, leave the poor woman alone!" Reno called as he sidled up to Tifa and ogled her. "You're looking good, yo."

"So…are you." Tifa said a bit surprised that she wasn't lying. He really did look good in a cowboy hat and tight blue jeans. He also looked more put together than she'd ever seen him.

"Where's Cloud? Did he have trouble dressing up as something other than a chocobo?"

"He's not here yet?" Tifa asked nonchalantly, like she hadn't been keeping an eye out for the man since she had walked into the room. She looked around. Barret, who was dressed like a gigantic wizard, was talking to Reeve, who was wearing a brown bomber jacket with fur and what looked like leather pants. Tifa took a second to contemplate his backside appreciatively before moving on.

Rude was at a table talking to Vincent who was wearing in a blue suit.

"Is Vincent dressed as a Turk?" Tifa asked with a confused frown.

"Yo, once a Turk always a Turk!" Reno crowed and snagged a beer bottle. He leaned against the bar and followed where her attention went. Tseng and Elena were flirting in a corner, Rufus was watching as Cait Sith produced a fortune for him.

There was no sign of Cloud. Tifa's eyes narrowed. If she was subject to this humiliation so was Cloud, dammit. Nothing he was wearing could be more embarrassing than what she was wearing.

She'd ignored it earlier but no more. So she turned to Reno with a smile and asked sweetly, "Reno, can you do me a favor?" Reno just looked at her so she went on. "Can you distract Yuffie so I can slip away for a bit without her having a fit?"

Reno's eyes slid over to where Yuffie was jumping up and down trying to get Vincent's attention. A smirk spread his lips slowly. "I can handle that."

"Thanks," she said but he was already heading off and Tifa made a break for it. She didn't know if Cloud had made it back down yet, but since Reno didn't know what he was wearing she was betting he was still in his room. So she headed up the stairs.

Cloud's room was at the end of the hall also doubling as his office. The door was firmly shut and Tifa took a moment to smile at the thought that Cloud was in there, in _his_ room, in _their_ home. They'd come such a long way to get to this point and even now there was a little thrill at the thought of Cloud sleeping two doors down from her. She knocked and there was a crash.

"Cloud?"

"Just a **thud** sec." Tifa opened the door slowly, almost afraid of what she would see, and peered around it into the room. Cloud was on his kneed holding up his desk with one hand to keep everything from sliding off, while he reached for the desk leg just out of reach.

"What happened?" Cloud mumbled something without looking at her. "What was that?"

"I tripped," he said more loudly before turning around and freezing. Tifa didn't notice as she came forward to pick up the leg and hand it to him. She was still bent over, hand out stretched when she realized that Cloud wasn't taking the proffered leg. Instead he was staring with an open mouth, his hand dangling in the air.

Tifa jolted up right, hand still held out, her ears burning as she looked nervously around the room. "Why aren't you ready yet?" She put a hand to her face, realizing the mask was still in place, she also realized that her face was happily covered up.

"I had some trouble with some buckles." Cloud finally took the desk leg, his cheeks glowing a soft pink, and propped the table up. He stood then staring fixedly at the desk.

It was Tifa's turn to freeze. Cloud was wearing dark pants and high boots and nothing else. She'd known Cloud a long time, seen him in various states of undress in countless situations, but the sight of his chest still caught her off guard.

It was muscled and pale and scarred and beautiful. She knew every scar like she would her own, better maybe, and she cherished the knowing. Seeing them though made something low in her belly churn slowly. She was fighting off mental pictures.

If she wasn't careful she'd start drooling any second. She really was no better than Reno.

"Do you, um, need some help?" She asked before clearing her throat.

"Yeah, this vest is a bit beyond me." He spoke softly, like he always did. It was such a small sound that sometimes she was afraid she would miss what he said. She knew that someday he'd have something she needed to hear but wouldn't because she wasn't listening hard enough. It was like he was afraid to be heard, or afraid to stir the world unpleasantly.

"So buckles?"

"Yeah, hold on." Cloud reached out for a white peasant shirt that he pulled over his head. Tifa stifled a sigh at the disappearing sight of his torso.

Then Cloud held up a brown vest looking perplexed as he handed it to her. She took it from his and took a little while to actually look at it and figure out where everything should go. There were two buckles at each shoulder where a collar came up in back; there were also laces up each side. It looked like something some sky pirate would wear, something for looks and for functionality, but mostly impractical.

Tifa smiled as she held the vest out for him to slip into. "What are you supposed to be?"

Cloud's cheeks flamed again as he ducked his head to put an arm through its proper hole. Tifa leaned in to hear Cloud's mumbled, "dragon slayer."

"Yuffie bought it, didn't she?" Tifa asked as she bent to buckle the open shoulder.

"Yeah." The quiet and deep voice made helping him somehow seem more intimate than just a friend helping a friend.

She coughed softly. "Trouble maker." Her hands paused for a moment before they went to the laces at the same side. Feeling the heat of his body beneath her hands was a novel experience. They talked, they shared a past and possibly even a future, but for whatever reason, because Cloud was nervous or worried about it or because Tifa just wasn't used to physical displays of affection, they rarely touched.

"You wouldn't want her any other way," Cloud accused her with a smirk. It caught Tifa off guard for a second, and she just looked at him before grinning.

"Too true. There's a lot of things I'd change but not that." She tied off the laces and jumped when Cloud shoved what looked like leather bracers under her nose. Which was exactly what they were.

She took them, then held out one hand. Cloud put his wrist in her hand gingerly and she held her breath. "What would you change?" he asked, looking at her through his hair. Something in his voice sounded almost nervous.

"Everyone would visit more." She told him firmly and then less firmly, "you'd smile more."

"I smile," he said almost defensively.

"I said you'd smile _more_." She finished buckling his right wrist and went for the left one. "I like it when you smile." She wouldn't look up at him, but she felt the heavy weight of his gaze prickling along her shoulders.

"Yeah," he bent over to watch her work and his breath stirred the hair that had slipped forward over her shoulder. She shivered.

"Did Yuffie get your costume too?"

Tifa chuckled and nodded.

"It's nice," Tifa ventured and then quickly amended. "Not my outfit obviously, but having everyone here. And they're all happy, you know?" She glanced up and was captured by the way he was looking at her, as though he was slowly realizing something that had been beyond him before. "Happy and here," she repeated nervously.

"I like seeing you smile too." He mumbled and took his hand away. "You smile more now. Are you happy, Tifa?" He asked and she got the feeling that he wasn't just talking about the party. She was quiet as she thought about the question.

Thought about the way it felt to curl up with Denzel and Marlene as they watched TV late at night. The way it felt when she heard the clomp of Cloud's boots on the hardwood floors when he came home at night. She thought about Barrett's voice when he asked after Marlene. Yuffie's high wild laugh as they hid behind the bar from Cid with the last pack of his cigarettes. Vincent showing up at her doorstep and talking. Nanaki's low voice as they stared up at the stars from her porch. Reeve petting Cait Sith's back slowly as he talked. Cloud's slow tentative smile. How it felt when she looked up and realized that she wasn't alone because there was Cloud sitting quietly in a corner reading.

Cloud just watched her, his face anxious before she smiled. "I am. Are you?" she asked.

She didn't have time to wait for an answer when Cloud bent forward just lightly and closed the distance between them.

It was a hesitant thing, their kiss, uncertain and so very gentle. Tifa had the feeling that Cloud hadn't known he was doing it until his lips were on hers but she wasn't complaining. It was like a spring breeze or the trickle of water, she almost thought that this was another daydream until his hands came up to touch her arms with the tips of his fingers. She shivered and he pulled her in closer, the kiss going deeper and she clutched onto him praying that this wasn't a trick or some crazy mix up.

She was panting slightly when they broke the kiss. Cloud rested his forehead on hers and she realized he was panting a bit himself. "It's not fair," she told him.

"What?" he pulled his head back to look at her, suddenly worried that she hadn't wanted him to kiss her. With a grimace he undid the knot that held her mask in place. She let him figuring he wanted to read her face.

"I just got you in that shirt and I want to take you out of it."

Cloud smiled and Tifa's breath hitched and her heart thumped loudly in her chest. It was one of those moments that lasted forever; she'd be able to remember it years later in vivid detail. The way the light slanted across his face, the way his hair brushed a cheek, the way the smile seemed to fit perfectly on lips that once hadn't remembered how. But mostly she would remember the way her heart had felt full to bursting and his chuckle had made other things feel heavy and full.

"Yuffie might understand if we don't go back downstairs." He offered.


End file.
